August 5, 2015

I had contemplated changing names for the past few YEARS actually. (I touch on this in thesetwo blog posts I wrote last year.) And while for years I’ve trucked along with Drifter & the Gypsy (a name that people have continually told me is an AWESOME name which makes me so happy to hear–thanks guys!) I was not happy with the name. I started my blog in 2008 when I was 14. I had just started high school. As with most teenagers of that age, I felt lost. I over-romanticized about life. I felt like a drifter. I wanted another word that would make an alliteration. I came up with gypsy. I liked that name. It was dreamy, ethereal. It had an aura of mystery to it. I pictured forest fairies basking in moody dappled sunlight. (Maybe not the last sentence, but you catch my drift… okay I’ll stop now ;).)

The older I got, the more comfortable in my skin I felt and the less I found myself identifying with Drifter & the Gypsy. People would ask me, “Who ARE Drifter & the Gypsy?” And really, I had nothing to say. (I actually wrote a children’s book a few years ago about a drifter and a gypsy to try to answer that question, but it didn’t seem right. It felt so contrived, like I was forcing the name to work.)

I’m still a drifter, but not in the same sense I was before. I’m a drifter in the sense I have SO MANY passions. I’m a drifter in the sense I don’t have just ONE job. I constantly have my hands in EVERYTHING possibly creative. I’m not completely fulfilled unless I’m doing A MILLION things at once. And even then I wonder, Should I start another project? But gypsy? Naw, not really. It was a phase I had simply outgrown.

What do you do when you outgrow your business name? The question plagued me for days, weeks, months and years. Surely it was all in my head since people kept complimenting me on my name. Even so, I didn’t feel right with the name. The only thing holding me back from changing my name was sheer terror. I know that seems an irrational exaggeration, but really I was terrified. Does it show a sign of weakness if the business name I chose for myself didn’t sustain me when I grew? I was afraid people would be angry, I was afraid of losing readers, losing followers, losing credibility, losing, losing, losing.

I talked to a few good blog friends about my desire to/but ultimate fear of changing my blog name and they helped me snap out of my funk. They told me if I wanted to change my blog name, change it. Don’t lose sleep over it, don’t let it occupy every waking moment of your day. People will catch on to the new name, people will adapt.

There’s a laundry list of other reasons why I wanted to change my blog name but in the interest of keeping this post as short and sweet as possible (especially since yesterday’s post was pretty heavy), I’ll touch on that another time.

Since I’m changing my blog name, within the coming months, I’m also changing my logo, blog layout, domain and social media usernames to reflect the name change.

If the domain/logo/blog layout change isn’t happening for a few months, why did I change my Facebook page name so quickly? Well, my friends, I heard changing Facebook page names is a really extensively long arduous process that can take MONTHS to propagate and in the end, it’s up to Facebook to decide whether or not they approve of the name change. It’s not unheard of for Facebook to not grant a name change request, leaving you stuck with the old name unless you have some sort of magical contact at Facebook who can pull some serious strings for you. I figured my request would take a few weeks, perhaps months to be filed & acknowledged, so I applied for a name change today.

You can imagine the HEART ATTACK I had when literally two minutes later, my new name was approved. You can only change Facebook page names once, so the secret’s out and there’s no turning back now! Perhaps the unprecedented ease of me changing page names on Facebook is a sign that this name change is the right thing to do.

There will be a bit of change going on here over the next few months but the content will. not. change. one. bit! Please please PLEASE don’t for a second think the quality will somehow take a dive for the worst and make that a reason to stop reading! My sincerest hope is that you continue on this journey with me. I’ll still be the same person, same wit, same style, just with a different name and a swanky new layout. (And really, it’s not that big of a name change!) It’ll be FUN!

I AGREE!! I changed my business name at the start of the year too, because no matter how much I tried I just couldn’t make my old one work. I was worried, but since the change I’ve found that I have so much more passion for what I do, and it reflects where I want to go so much better! Bravo for stepping out of your comfort zone! Cant wait to see the new logo etc x

I hear you. As someone else who began a blog as a teenager without thinking through the name, I outgrew mine ages ago (or really it became irrelevant as soon as I left New York). I don’t know why I’m so afraid of changing it the though…I fear my readers would be confused and wouldn’t be able to find me again? I don’t know…but a change is probably long overdue, and having started another blog on WordPress, I’m finding I like that platform so much better than Blogspot, so maybe it’s time for a move. ^_^

Yes, I know exactly what you’re saying. I remember we both started our blogs around the same time! I feared too that changing my name would be too disruptive to my readers, but I think we all just overanalyze it! If you want to change the name, change it! People will adapt and those who don’t probably weren’t dedicated readers anyway. 😉

OMD in Your Inbox

Shop Now!

Current Features

Latest ‘Grams

Current Categories

Online Favorites

Sponsors

The Nitty Gritty

All tutorials, design layouts and content are created solely for Oh My Drifter. Please give credit to anything that you use or reference to from this blog. If I have featured one of your photos and you would like it removed, please email me. Thank you!